‘Goldfish’ Review: Kalki Koechlin, Deepti Naval’s film leaves you feeling bittersweet
‘Goldfish’ paints a compelling narrative of a complicated mother-daughter relationship strained by dementia and a distant past. Director Pushan Kripalani skillfully addresses themes of loss, neglect, and redemption, with a standout performance from Kalki and Deepti. Read our review.
In Short
- 'Goldfish' is a film directed by Pushan Kripalani, focusing on the strained relationship between a mother suffering from dementia, Sadhana Tripathi, and her daughter Anamika Fields.
- The film explores themes of loss, resentment, childhood trauma, and the complexities of a mother-daughter dynamic.
- It stars Kalki Koechlin and Deepti Naval in pivotal roles.
Dysfunctional family films are not new to cinema, but director Pushan Kripalani’s novelty lies in his ability to weave a beautiful story about estranged relationships and loss. ‘Goldfish’ is about a dementia-suffering mother, Sadhana Tripathi and her daughter, Anamika Fields aka Miku. The mother-daughter duo's distant relationship with each other is mutual. But there’s more to this.
Sadhana (Deepti)’s dementia worsens, forcing her neighbour Laxmi (Bharti Patel) to ring her daughter Ana (Kalki) to return in desperate need. Ana has been away from home for years now. She grovels as she enters the home with a suitcase. The frustration is real, from both sides. “Tea at four?” Ana asks her mother almost condescendingly, giving us a glimpse of their conflicted relationship. Ana is supposed to leave in two days after putting her mother into a care home, but life gives the mother-daughter duo a second chance.
On the surface level, the film deals with relationship dynamics between a mother and daughter. Pushan dabbles sensitively and threads sincerely around the subtext of their conflicted relationship. There is a lot of angst, feelings of loss, resentment and childhood trauma at the core of it. ‘Goldfish’ isn’t about two perfect women! It is about a perfectly imperfect mother, who perhaps did not even want to be a mother. Through the course of the movie, you only hope she has some redemption.
What works the best in ‘Goldfish’ is that it never for once takes anyone’s side. This is a story of two different women, from different generations, owning their individuality.
Kalki is as usual terrific as Miku, who has suppressed resentment against her mother. On the other hand, Deepti is not new to bringing a nuanced performance to the table when given a solid script. Together, they showcase their most vulnerable side onscreen and the honesty in their performances is palpable.
The film does offer some light moments with dry humour. In a scene, Sadhana tells Miku how she had to learn to hit her without leaving marks in London. Pushan never passes the burden of the complexity of their relationship towards the audience. Instead, he makes you witness it as an outsider.
Rajit Kapur as Ashwin Raina, a friend of Sadhana, is a nice addition to the story.
Music plays a very central role in the story. Sadhana is shown as a veteran radio jockey, hence the music of the 80s in the background blends well and elevates your experience of watching the film.
There is a certain disconnect one might feel in the beginning with blank screens being used with Kalki's voiceover implicating her letters to 'Baba', but as the film progresses it ties the loose ends well.
As Miku is forced to make a choice and grapple with more important issues at hand, including whether or not to send her now-old mother to a care home, you empathise with her. ‘Goldfish’ explores all of these themes beautifully, leaving you with a bittersweet feeling by the end. 'Kasam Se!'
Watch ‘Goldfish’ in a theatre near you!
4 out of 5 stars for 'Goldfish'.
